Chronology
The following is a rough chronology of Stephanie Brown's complete appearances in the Post Crisis continuity, arranged in approximate arcs. Date information is found mostly at Comixology or by extrapolating from ComicVine, and may not be entirely accurate. Occasionally we have arranged issues by arc rather than by release date, to make most narrative sense for someone wanting to read through Steph's story. Debut The three-part story that started it all! Loser Bat villain Cluemaster decides to become a winner Bat villain by dumping the clues schtick, but a certain someone keeps Spoiling his plans... Sins of the Father After several tryout mini-series, Tim Drake was given his own regular solo series where Steph began to show up, sporadically at first, roughly one story per year. Suburban Avenger Though her first two stories in Robin involved her bad Dad, but by her third tale (and third year into the series), Steph began to be less defined by her rotten relationship to her father and more as a hero in her own right. By the series' fourth year, her appearances began to be more frequent and she began appearing in other series outside of Robin. During the Cataclysm/Aftershock/No Man's Land storylines, she blossomed as Tim's steady girl and a full blown regular. Pregnancy 1998-1999 brought Steph perhaps one of her most memorable story arcs prior to War Games. Immediately following the events of Cataclysm, Steph became pregnant by her loser boyfriend Dean, went bravely through the difficult time with Robin's support, gave birth during No Man's Land, and gave the baby up for adoption. Reportedly, Wizard Magazine named Robin the best ongoing title of the year as a response to this storyline. Identity Revealed/Hero in Training After Steph's baby was born, she went through a period of recovery, after which she resumed heroing. Complications, as always, ensued - from the discovery of her boyfriend's civilian identity, the Joker escaping and murdering everyone in sight, Batman, the new Batgirl, and Black Canary all giving her some training, and Bruce Wayne being framed for murder and going on the run. Steph in Transition Robin issue #100 signaled a massive spate of changes for the Eggplant Avenger. Chuck Dixon left DC, and as creator and chief champion of Steph, that meant a characterization, thematic, and storyline shift. Jon Lewis brought some strong writing to her appearances in the Robin title, effectively promoting her to co-lead in his run. During this run, Steph's father was "killed" working for the Suicide Squad, and she grew closer to Tim. However, Batman effectively blacklisted her vigilante career, treating her as unworthy of training or support, foreshadowing the terrible events to come. Girl Wonder/War Drums In 2004, Tim Drake quit being Robin, and Steph, like Tim before her, insisted on being Batman's next partner. The promotion was greeted by an enormous sales boost - but the excitement was short-lived, as DC had a plan for Steph, and none of it involved anything good for her or her fans. Despite this fact, several of the issues starring Steph as Robin are great fun, and worth checking out. *In 2006, two years after Steph's stint as Robin and "death," DC published a short Steph as Robin story by Damion Scott, who drew the Robin issues where Steph was part of the legend. While probably technically out of continuity (though, since all of post-Crisis is now out of continuity, I don't know why it matters), it probably slots in a bit after Batgirl #53. **Though not collected as part of War Drums, Batgirl did have an intermediate issue between Steph's run as Robin and the War Games event, in which Steph's motives for her actions in the crossover are displayed. War Games The Bat crossover which changed everything forever, until the next crossover. Basically, useless, except for killing off characters people loved and leaving characters people hated alive. Most fans agree that at worst, War Games was completely horrible, and at best, it was an ambitious failure. In this catastrophe, Steph was humiliated, tortured, murdered, then blamed for all of it. Consumer Alert: If you ever liked Steph, you probably don't want to collect any of the following. (Note: this is not the complete War Games storyline - it only contains Steph's appearances.) Act 1: Outbreak Act 2: Tides Act 3: Endgame *Steph's "Death" Epilogue Fight for the Legacy After War Games, there wasn't anyone left at DC in a creative capacity who was willing to advocate for Stephanie's character or legacy. Thus began the First Great Darkness, the period in which Stephanie's legacy was denied, erased, mocked, and otherwise trashed by writers and characters alike. Grief Robin and Batgirl were probably the characters most affected by Stephanie's death. Her funeral and their reactions appeared in the Robin/Batgirl crossover Fresh Blood immediately following the War Games issues of those two series. While it was nice to see her two closest friends mourning her, the writers were Bill Willingham and Andersen Gabrych, the latter in particular taking every opportunity to attempt to justify Batman's treatment of Stephanie and blame her death on her own incompetence. Judd Winick used Batman's reaction to Steph's death as part of the impetus for his Under the Red Hood storyline, between War Games and War Crimes. War Crimes About a year after War Games concluded, Willingham and Gabrych were at it again - attempting to exonerate Bruce and blame everyone else, especially Steph, for her death. So we got the four part crossover War Crimes and ancillary titles, exploring the aftermath of her death. In Memoriam Despite the company-wide effort to erase or trash Steph's legacy, Cassandra Cain, Batgirl and Steph's best friend, continued to miss her. As a friend, Steph meant something different to her than to Batman and his family, and the impact of her death caused many references and even "ghostly" apparitions. Gail Simone also showed some of the impact of Stephanie's memory without attempting to blame or defame her in Birds of Prey. Grant Morrison included Tim's grief at Stephanie's death, and a possibly hallucinated Steph Robin memorial case as part of the Batman RIP storyline. Return In late 2007, something odd began happening. A familiar purple hooded figure was roaming the streets of Gotham Underground, and haunting Robin's steps. Little did fans know that this was just the beginning of Steph's long deserved resurrection! Road to Batgirl Once Steph's death had been retconned, DC in their infinite wisdom decided to fire the writer with the clearest plans for her character. As a result, Steph's journey suffered through the fizzling end of Robin in the Batman RIP event tie-ins, and sputtered on through the following Battle for the Cowl relaunch of the Bat-titles. Batman RIP Battle for the Cowl Batgirl In 2009, for the first time ever, Stephanie Brown was awarded her own solo series, as the third Batgirl. It lasted for 2 years with decent sales, great art, and considerable critical acclaim. USA Today listed the Batgirl Rising tpb, which collected the first 7 issues of Batgirl, among the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2010, one of only 2 DC titles to make the list and the ONLY one set in the Post-Crisis DCU. You can find our detailed chronological list of appearances, linking our articles on all of these individual issues, at the Steph as Batgirl page. New Collections Though most of Steph's appearances are currently out of print, DC is slowly releasing new collections that include some of her key issues. Batman: War Games volume 1 Batman: War Games volume 2 Robin, The Boy Wonder: A Celebration of 75 YearsCategory:Appearances Category:Spoiler Category:Batgirl Category:Steph!Robin Category:Chronology